No longer feels "safest of all".

I'm not a fan of government intrusion, but this type of stuff doesn't bother me.....

assholes are out there are driving in the rain on bald tires... fark em... get em off the road....

Also cocks?

"ProContour hopes to sell this system to state and local governments looking for a way out of tight budget situations"

aaaaaand right there is where I stopped reading because I knew all I needed to know.

Especially in GA where cars are not inspected in any way for road safety.

Atlanta drivers know the horror of a soccer mom in an SUV with bald tires. During a rainstorm on some road like Cobb Pkwy.

ProContour hopes to sell this system to state and local governments looking for a way out of tight budget situations

At least they're honest about the true motivation behind these things.

This isn't for your safety. It's for their pocketbooks.

This has nothing to do with safety.

They can take my bald tires when they pry them from my ditched SUV.

Well, at least the article made mention of the fact that tires with low or no grooves can actually provide better grip under certain conditions. Why do you think dragsters and racecars use "slicks"?

utter_bastard:Especially in GA where cars are not inspected in any way for road safety.

Atlanta drivers know the horror of a soccer mom in an SUV with bald tires. During a rainstorm on some road like Cobb Pkwy.

It might as well be ice.

I wonder if it works on Scalloped tired where the tread in parts are bald. Will it be able to figure out if you have low pressure too?

Vanetia:ProContour hopes to sell this system to state and local governments looking for a way out of tight budget situations

At least they're honest about the true motivation behind these things.

This isn't for your safety. It's for their pocketbooks.

However, the effect of this would actually be to punish people engaging in unsafe behavior, unlike speed cameras and red light cameras which can be and are commonly set up simply to generate revenue.

I'm conflicted as to how I feel about this. I don't like the big-brotherism, but then again, how many times have I looked over at the car next to me at a stop light and seen cords showing on the outer edges of the front tires?

/The real question is, how will this handle cheater slicks?

shirtsbyeric: This has nothing to do with safety.

I disagree, because it is. However, lets not delude ourselves into thinking that safety is the primary motivation behind it. We all know that it takes a back seat to revenue generation.

I came her for the pic of the penis shaped allow rims. I am disappointed in you, Fark.

/Tried GISing the pic. Found nuthin'.

BloodyL:Well, at least the article made mention of the fact that tires with low or no grooves can actually provide better grip under certain conditions. Why do you think dragsters and racecars use "slicks"?

I did not know that...

BloodyL:Well, at least the article made mention of the fact that tires with low or no grooves can actually provide better grip under certain conditions. Why do you think dragsters and racecars use "slicks"?

It's also why oil or water on the track means a caution.

Translation: We're low on dough and need to raise come cash

real shaman:assholes are out there are driving in the rain on bald tires... fark em... get em off the road....

Yeah, next thing you know people are going to be over inflating their tires and then suing the manufacturer when they explode at high speeds.

It would probably be more palatable if they sent out a warning first, and you had 30 days to get new(er) tires.

Practially, the places where I've lived where they had car inspections, that was more of a scam than anything. My Dad was in the hospital and my Mom took their 15 year old car in to be inspected. They found about 20 things 'wrong' with it. When my Dad got out of the hospital, the same place found only 1 thing.

A friend who lived in Boston changed every light on his car and took it to be inspected, and sure enough they found one that was out and for only $10 they could fix it.

And don't even get me started on brake inspections. They are like asking a barber if you need a haircut.

Soon pissed-off people with spraypaint and pickaxes will be running out into traffic to destroy said cameras. Hopefully they will post amusing pictures.

utter_bastard:Especially in GA where cars are not inspected in any way for road safety.

Atlanta drivers know the horror of a soccer mom in an SUV with bald tires. During a rainstorm on some road like Cobb Pkwy.

in West Cobb (where i grew up), East Cobb, Dunwoody, ad nauseum

wanted for questioning.

tillerman35:Soon pissed-off people with spraypaint and pickaxes will be running out into traffic to destroy said cameras. Hopefully they will post amusing pictures.

High-powered mobile carbon dioxide laser takes care of said camera and associated electronics from a distance.

The sales of spray paint will skyrocket.

"German company ProContour hopes to sell this system to state and local governments looking for a way out of tight budget situations with a positive, pro-safety message."

This reminds me of Texas' recent ad I hear on the radio about deploying Red Light Cameras "for your safety" because now "there's no excuse for running a red light."

... There was an excuse before? Sorry if we can't buy the BS "for your safety" crap, but the real intention is pretty obvious: Money. Nothing more, nothing less. They already have laws about this, this just makes it that much easier and more widespread on how often the money is raked in.

real shaman:I'm not a fan of government intrusion, but this type of stuff doesn't bother me.....

assholes are out there are driving in the rain on bald tires... fark em... get em off the road....

but is there any way once the cameras are installed that they wont for example be used to track license plates with OCR software (already exists needs like 5ms of a plate to read it). Once they have that they can make a database of where everyone goes when, or at least hteir cars. What about the photos being used to see in the car to see who is there.

Photo cameras for red lights are only triggered when someone trips a sensor by being in a spot they shouldnt be in. This may not be the case with a new system.

Granted elected officials may all be honest, reputable, and with the highest levels of integrity. Employees of government agencies could also be morally bound, and restrictions in place to restrict their ability to access data. But history paints a different picture, look for example at the passport data issues, look at the wiretap stuff, look at a few things for recent examples of how this is not likely to be the case.

And even if you got someone in office that was all of this and more, what about the person after them, or the one after them? At some point you wont have the perfect person, and at some point it will be abused.

Name any government power or program that hasnt been abused. Bet that proves to be a difficult challenge.

This sounds like a fine time to burn the ProContour plant and management offices to the ground. Get to it Germans!


/you know who else liked to burn things
//yeah, I went there

Vanetia:tillerman35:Soon pissed-off people with spraypaint and pickaxes will be running out into traffic to destroy said cameras. Hopefully they will post amusing pictures.

I wholly encourage brave people to do just this. With all of those kinds of automated "law-enforcement" machines. If the city is spending more money to replace/fix the machines than it makes from the tickets they give out, they'll stop using them.

This is not a good plan. If the city is spending more money fixing the the machines than it makes from tickets, it will increase the fines to cover the costs and probably look for even more moronic ways to increase taxes without increasing taxes.

Tr0mBoNe:BloodyL:Well, at least the article made mention of the fact that tires with low or no grooves can actually provide better grip under certain conditions. Why do you think dragsters and racecars use "slicks"?

It's also why oil or water on the track means a caution.

you know people own nice cars that they only drive under certain conditions right? so why would you put an all-around tire on a convertible sports car you baby and take out for sunday drives when the weather is nice? i wouldn't put dirt tires on it either, i'm not putting anything but sport tires on it. this is why cops are supposed to use discression when dealing with people.

Vanetia:This isn't for your safety. It's for their pocketbooks.

i have nothing against this.

its either make the stupid pay, or raise taxes for everyone

A-Glass-Darkly:"German company ProContour hopes to sell this system to state and local governments looking for a way out of tight budget situations with a positive, pro-safety message."

This reminds me of Texas' recent ad I hear on the radio about deploying Red Light Cameras "for your safety" because now "there's no excuse for running a red light."

... There was an excuse before? Sorry if we can't buy the BS "for your safety" crap, but the real intention is pretty obvious: Money. Nothing more, nothing less. They already have laws about this, this just makes it that much easier and more widespread on how often the money is raked in.

Here's all you need to kmow about the safety angle. When the NC supreme court ruled that the individual cities/counties could not keep the revenue generated from the cameras, the cameras went away.

Not one intersection was so "unsafe" as to warrant cameras that would cost the city money...even the ones that were so "unsafe" that they needed the cameras in the 1st place.

anything else we'd like our goverment to intrude upon?

problem is the fraction of a measurement bit. if it was about safety enforcement of the public, a warning would come first.

big brothery? sure. I'm not saying I love it, but if you must do something... warn then fine.

Even if you do get a ticket from a camera, you can easily fight it, as you have a Constitutional Right to face and cross-examine your accuser.

Kinda hard to do that with a camera.

Eh, whatever.

Some day (I'm confident within my lifetime), we'll all look back on this big government horseshiat and laugh at how we could possibly take ourselves so seriously.

I mean, really, the 70s look classy now compared to the present.

These brainiac companies need to concentrate their efforts on things that help mankind, not crap that lets cities issue even more tickets without a human involved.

I predict that, in time, this camera enforcement nonsense will go away. It is already increasingly being exposed as the scam that it is, and many places that installed cameras are starting to remove them and camera equipment companies are starting to go bankrupt. Good!

Red-light running is bad, sure. But 90+% of the tickets are for coming into the intersection a few tenths of a second after the red, which isn't necessarily a grave safety hazard and is more a symptom of the underlying problem with lights: an insufficient warning of an impending yellow light.

I for one do NOT welcome our photo-snapping, tire-sniffing, car-butt-sniffing reverse-ATM overlords. (Though I'd probably be fine with the exhaust sniffers if it meant that I wouldn't have to take the cars to a damn rip-off smog check station every 2 years.)

Just like Demolition Man ...

(sorry for the big photo)

A while back a friend and I were out partying, hanging out with 2 chicks, the bars closed and we tried to get them back to my place...but they wouldn't do it. So we left, picked up a cab that had spinning rims and drove home. On the way we saw the same 2 girls walking home, we stopped the cab, asked them to come back to my place to party again saying you could trust us, we got spinning rims, and it worked.

I'm sorry, komrade, but the benevolence of the state has insisted that you are in many violations in your personal habits and you have been fined the balance of your pay for many years to come. Your workplace will provide you with groceries. Endeavour to persevere.

SevenYearHawk:Just like Demolition Man ...

(sorry for the big photo)

Well, we're not quite their yet but yes, that is the mega Liberal nanny-state that are the wet dreams of many Dems out there

imcguyver:A while back a friend and I were out partying, hanging out with 2 chicks, the bars closed and we tried to get them back to my place...but they wouldn't do it. So we left, picked up a cab that had spinning rims and drove home. On the way we saw the same 2 girls walking home, we stopped the cab, asked them to come back to my place to party again saying you could trust us, we got spinning rims, and it worked.

if this is true... then dammit, I need to quit thinking logically.

/for on-topic: when is the REST of government getting automated?
//like the parts where you apply for a permit

Swerving.
Swerving.
All the time a swerving.
Avoid the sensors.
Swerving left.
Swerving right.
Swerving up over the curb.
Yeeee Hahhhhhhh.

With these sensors, the cops have more time to spend at Roadblocks.

Since this will be an automated system designed to mail tickets, the first case should be warnings for 30 days to respond (or replace flat out, but respond in the case of tight budgets, etc..) and track for repeat offenses afterwards with rising ticket costs.

Of course, since we don't live in happy land where the government cares to work with its citizenry and these are designed obviously to generate revenue and not promote safety primarily, then fark em and the people setting em up. I encourage people get a souvenir from this moment in our history. I am not suggesting where you get that souvenir or what it may be, but the children enjoy fancy robotics and new technology is always a great discussion piece.

Hint Hint

The only reason this is a bad leap from red light or speed cameras is because you'll basically be paying a ticket every day that your tires are considered defective until you get the ticket in the mail and are able to take a day off to replace them. Will they be mailing warnings to people that are in danger of being ticketed soon so they can prevent one?

Trance750:Even if you do get a ticket from a camera, you can easily fight it, as you have a Constitutional Right to face and cross-examine your accuser.

You only have the constitutional right to face your accuser for criminal penalties. Many tickets are administrative fines, which do NOT receive the same constitutional protection.

Besides, even if you did have the same right to face your accuser that wouldn't make it easier. It's not like they seriously expect the tire camera to take the stand. The best you're going to get is to have a cop or a company rep take the stand and explain how the ticket machine collects its data. As far as the ticket is concerned, the document speaks for itself. Much like for breathalyzers you WON'T get the detailed hardware specs, you WON'T get the source code, and you WON'T get any detailed description of the algorithm, or anything else that might be of actual use.

The best you can do to fight it is give an excuse to the judge such as: your tires are bald because they're sport tires on a sports car that you only take out on sunny days. Alternatively you could go out to your car with a ruler and a cellphone camera and prove that the machine is wrong. Either way, the judge is entitled to entire believe the machine and entirely disbelieve you. . . or just not care what you have to say.

real shaman:I'm not a fan of government intrusion, but this type of stuff doesn't bother me.....

assholes are out there are driving in the rain on bald tires... fark em... get em off the road....

This

If you cant keep a car running properly (and safely), you shouldn't have a car.

I'm not as worried about bald tires as old tires.

You should see some of the SCARY things people drive on, but they refuse to get new tires because "dey still got tread".

Sure. Because the rubber's so old that it's got the wear (and grip) characteristics of iron.

Even before figuring the frighteningly poor traction characteristics (I'll take bald 1 year old tires over "good" 10 year old tires ANY DAY, even in the winter) ... Rubber like that cracks easily. Moisture gets into those cracks and deteriorates the cords that form the tires' structure. When those are weak, tires come apart.

Replace them every 4-5 years whether it looks like you need them or not.

/or just drive 30,000 miles a year and buy a set of new tires every fall

My "slicks" have no tread so there! Eat it!

Omorda:Tr0mBoNe:BloodyL:Well, at least the article made mention of the fact that tires with low or no grooves can actually provide better grip under certain conditions. Why do you think dragsters and racecars use "slicks"?

It's also why oil or water on the track means a caution.

you know people own nice cars that they only drive under certain conditions right? so why would you put an all-around tire on a convertible sports car you baby and take out for sunday drives when the weather is nice? i wouldn't put dirt tires on it either, i'm not putting anything but sport tires on it. this is why cops are supposed to use discression when dealing with people.

There's still a minimum tread depth to be legal to operate on the street. The fundamental principle that you shouldn't drive on illegal tires is still valid IMHO.

/yes, I know exactly what you're talking about
//rocking the AVS on my baby car right now
///have a set of Dunlop Winter Sports on spare rims for the bad weather
////3/32" of tread depth isn't going to destroy your handling, speed racer.

I admit, I ran on front bald Pirelli tires on my MINI for a bit too long. During snowy winters, I coudln't even get up the slightest incline to get back into my garage. Sometimes I had to running starts, or just park out front. bought some non-runflats for 6 bucks short of 500(tax included), and I'm okay now.